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Spike Drives
Spike Drives are the core engine of a spaceship, and since the event known as 'The Scream', the only way to achieve meta-dimensional travel for spaceships. Only with them installed can a vessel jump from one system to another in Acheron Rho. All Spike Drives in the sector were originally developed and built by House Fornax. Although today many people can build slightly weaker versions of the lower tier engines, nobody was yet able to crack Fornax's secrets in terms of manufacturing efficiency, nor the resulting speed and stability in their products. FORNAX (Drive 1) After House Fornax managed to overcome the obstacles on Maja after The Scream in the year 2665, their engineers had a surprisingly fast break-through in new propulsion techniques in 2670 and 2671. The Scream, it seemed, had left ripples in time and space that the Cordifexes along with Navifexes and Ferrifexes were able to access with newly invented pulsation drives. Entering these ripples was dangerous and at first only unmanned objects were sent in, but too little data made its way back to Maja. Manned missions were planned shortly after the discovery. After losses in pilots and ships, House Fornax finally was able to enter and leave the ripple dimension in a stable manner and was now ready to attempt leaving this meta-dimensional space at other locations than the two known entry and exit points from the Imperial Prime system. The space they were drilling through was named ‘Spike Lanes’ or ‘Spike Space’ (later ‘Drive Space’) as some engineers likened the movement through it to shoving a lance through a body of flowing water, an incredible amount of force needed to thrust forward for little momentum relative to the work used. The incredible invention of this so called Spike Drive allowed House Fornax to look for other human survivors outside of the Imperial Prime system. Proud of their success and ingenuity the Majans named the Drive 1 after the goddess of furnaces: Fornax. DAZH (Drive 2) After House Fornax met House Vela and partnered up with the people of the Perithr system to map out what could and could not be accessed through the dangerous and volatile ‘Spike Lanes’, the need for bigger Drive Space jumps arose, so spaceships could reach even further systems that weren’t immediately accessible with the FORNAX Drive 1. As soon as in 2701, changing minuscule details about how the fuel consumption worked inside the Spike Lanes, the Cordifexes managed to break down amounts used for power gained immensely, thus allowing for bigger ‘jumps’ in the meta-dimensional space. This allowed House Fornax and House Vela to start properly mapping the entire sector, as now all of Acheron Rho’s star systems (known today) were in reach. Starting the tradition to name the Spike Drive after old Terran deities as a followup to Drive 1 FORNAX, Drive 2 was named ‘DAZH’ after the regenerating god of the solar fire who rides in the sky, Dazhbog. ZHURE (Drive 3) It took 80 years for the next generation of Spike Drives to be ready for the market - and a market was established in that time already. House Fornax thrived after the map of Acheron Rho was completed and businesses grew more and more profitable on Aeternus’ Chain. This increased the demands of ores, metals, polymers and all other materials needed for the ever hungry machine to keep working. The large Bulk Freighters that roamed the systems to gather, buy, and ship resources to House Fornax were deemed too slow. To match the increasing demands, the largest ships and all future freighters would need to be equipped with new Drive systems that would accelerate their productivity. A newly built support system, that allowed for better cooling of the Spike Drive itself and thus easier overclocking of its propulsion force in real and meta-dimensional space both, would allow for greater speeds for all ships who could afford the steep prices that Fornax demanded. As a celebration of rising productivity and the success of Fornax creations, the Drive 3 was named ZHURE after the deity Zhurong, who played with pots and cauldrons for the benefit of the people. Some ancient scriptures also describe the deity to be related to insects, just as some people in Acheron Rho described the resource gathering fleets of Fornax ships to be just like swarms of insects. LOGI (Drive 4) The development of Drive 4 was slow and a well-kept secret on Aeternus' Chain. Instead of releasing a new Drive altogether, House Fornax focused to equip as many vessels as possible in the sector with the ZHURE Drive 3 and update and upgrade that drive at licensed Fornax stations. Nevertheless of course Fornax engineers were working hard on improving the engines for House Fornax itself and the finishing touches were laid on just as the Majans could need it most. As the reign of the Blood Eagle Alejandra Ari was in full swing, the fiery nobles and others conspired her against her. To give their ships an edge over the military genius of the Aquilan Empress, Fornax introduced the Drive 4 in 2942. More speed in system, more speed in Drive Space, an more stable connections to the other ship engines resulting in an overall increase in ship stability was what was asked of the Cordifexes from the Majan Senate. They delivered what would be the (extremely expensive) stable standard for more than 200 years. The LOGI Drive 4, named after the Norse fire giant and personification of fire Logi or Hálogi. Sometimes Logi gets confused with the god Loki which fits all too well since the Fornax nobles played rather dangerous games and tricks at the time. PELE (Drive 5) For over 200 years the LOGI Drive 4 would rule Acheron Rho’s spaceships, until in 3155 its dominance started to wane as House Fornax started secret test runs of their newest drive. Hidden away from all prying eyes the Majans completed their research and their first test builds in Fornax ships until 3200. Then they collaborated with House Crux and installed a refined test version in the HCS 167 Meters of Pure Jurisprudence, as the Advanced Police Cruiser was up for a maintenance stop at Maja’s Ambolt Shipyard. Shortly after, House Fornax released an official statement of having completed the PELE Drive 5 and advertised it to their most valued customers first, the sector whole after. So enamoured were the engineers with their latest creation, that they gave the new Drive 5 the name of one of Majas most beloved ancient deities, the revered goddess of fire, wind, and volcanoes; Pele. Category:House Fornax Products